He's back?! Take a deep breath everyone, Teddy Bridgewater doesn't need to rush to playing field

Minneapolis Star Tribune | Oct 18

Teddy Bridgewater will practice Wednesday. But he won’t arrive at Winter Park atop a majestic white steed with sword drawn high as the rest of the NFC North lowers its head and surrenders.

Yes, Wednesday is a big day. There’s a lot of talk in this town about athletes working tails off. But no one has a shorter nub of a tail than 24-year-old Theodore Edmond Bridgewater, whose 14-month journey from horrific knee injury to practice field return ends Wednesday with some limited work.

But let’s tap the brakes on projecting when Bridgewater will play. Or if he’ll even need to play this season.

Bridgewater returning to practice as soon as he was eligible tells me the Vikings are serious about activating him when they must decide in 21 days. But it doesn’t tell me they plan to start him Nov. 12 at Washington.

It tells me they’ve looked around the NFL, seen the growing pile of broken bodies, taken note of Case Keenum’s less-than-ideal stature and are rightfully worried to go many more games with undrafted rookie Kyle Sloter as their backup. It also tells me that Bridgewater’s left knee probably is closer to being ready than Sam Bradford’s left knee.

But that doesn’t mean there’s a rush to start Bridgewater. And, barring injury, why should there be?

When the Vikings went 11-5 and won the division in 2015, Bridgewater had success with an unselfish, complementary style of play that put a well-balanced, defensive-oriented team ahead of personal statistics.